In this day and age, painkillers from mild to super strong, are being popped like candy. This is not good, especially when there’s some evidence suggesting that certain types of painkillers can significantly lower your testosterone levels.

Have a slight headache? Pop a pill! Fever? Pop lots of pills! Thinking you might be catching something? Take few to be on the safe side!

Sure there’s a legitimate reason for the existence of painkiller drugs, but taking them for nearly every little aching joint, or minor headache, or as a preventive measure is pretty dumb. Every drug has some side effects, especially when taken for longer periods of time, and unfortunately painkillers are not an exception. Of course, as in everything, the dose makes the poison…

…Which is why you should be cautious about the kind of painkillers you’re using, the duration, and if the use is actually damaging your health just for the sake of short-term pain relief:

Painkillers and Testosterone

The drug industry is massive, and as you might guess, there are painkillers of all kinds around the market. Some require a prescription, some are available over-the-counter.

For the sake of clarity (and not to make this article incredible lengthy and boring) we’ll focus on the research that is available on the 3 most common types of painkillers…

It’s not completely understood why opioids lower testosterone levels, but at least one mechanism is the inhibition of the gonadotropin secretion (LH and FSH) from the brain. Conversely opiate-antagonist drugs that work in a reverse manner to opioids, have been found to increase testosterone levels.

Corticosteroids are used for a variety of ailments, but for pain relief, they’re most common among people with chronic joint pain or inflammation. The corticosteroids used as painkillers are synthetically made steroid hormones, similar to the ones that your body makes naturally, most commonly its the principal stress hormone; cortisol (hydrocortisone, etc).